Showing posts with label Weather. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weather. Show all posts
Sunday, June 27, 2010
We Had Joy, We Had Fun, We Had Seasons in The Sun
It seems that celebrating my birthday with a picnic is becoming a yearly tradition. I approve.
Monday, June 21, 2010
I Heart the Weekend
Lately both Jon and I have been very busy and overtired during the week, making our weekends precious and much-anticipated. As an added bonus, it has been outrageously sunny and warm in southern Ireland - no rain! This past Saturday we went on a day trip with some friends to Youghal, a pretty coastal town about 40 minutes east of Cork City.
We sat on the beach and soaked up some sun for a few hours. Then we walked around the town, taking in the views of the ocean and the ruins of the old city wall. We finished our day at a typical Irish pub, watching the Cameroon-Denmark World Cup game over some dinner.
These are the days that I feel grateful to be alive.
We sat on the beach and soaked up some sun for a few hours. Then we walked around the town, taking in the views of the ocean and the ruins of the old city wall. We finished our day at a typical Irish pub, watching the Cameroon-Denmark World Cup game over some dinner.
These are the days that I feel grateful to be alive.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Cork Midsummer Festival of the Senses
Today was sunny and beautiful again in Cork, a wonderful and much-appreciated Irish rarity. We spent the afternoon outdoors with friends, appreciating the weather. With summer come all the festivals, and this weekend there are two going on (that I'm aware of). We managed to see a bit of both. First went to see the Ocean To City festival from Lapp's Quay. We stayed long enough to wander through the crowds, eat some delicious hummus, barely see a few boats, and then head off to our next destination.
We spent the rest of the afternoon at Fitzgerald's Park, where the Cork Midsummer Festival was underway. The were huge crowds of people there, mainly to see the Street Performance World Championship. We caught a few acts around the park, but the one that impressed me most was an acrobatic duo. As we approached, they were blasting opera music and making the crowd laugh while performing amazing feats of athleticism. Those guys did things with their bodies that made me cringe in pain/fear/incredulity. The only way I can describe them is to say that they would fit in at Cirque du Soleil.
As we watched, Jon noted that their accents sounded French Canadian, and I agreed. The longer we stood there, the more convinced we became that they were Quebecois. And guess what? We were right.
Here is their website, and a few photos I stole, which I hope they don't mind because I'm trying to spread their name far and wide:
We spent the rest of the afternoon at Fitzgerald's Park, where the Cork Midsummer Festival was underway. The were huge crowds of people there, mainly to see the Street Performance World Championship. We caught a few acts around the park, but the one that impressed me most was an acrobatic duo. As we approached, they were blasting opera music and making the crowd laugh while performing amazing feats of athleticism. Those guys did things with their bodies that made me cringe in pain/fear/incredulity. The only way I can describe them is to say that they would fit in at Cirque du Soleil.
As we watched, Jon noted that their accents sounded French Canadian, and I agreed. The longer we stood there, the more convinced we became that they were Quebecois. And guess what? We were right.
Here is their website, and a few photos I stole, which I hope they don't mind because I'm trying to spread their name far and wide:
Sunday, May 30, 2010
So Behind in My Blogging, I've Given Up Apologizing.
So much to tell.
Jon & I made the final lap in our wedding extravaganza. This one, organized by my mother and held in Tel Aviv on April 30th 2010, was a luncheon affair. Despite the fact that it rained a bit, a rather shocking weather event for Tel Aviv at the end of April, the party was wonderful and we all enjoyed ourselves. The photographer, Nicole de Castro, took some fantastic pictures:
After breaking the glass.
After the wedding grand finale, we took some time to hang out and enjoy Israel. We spent time with family, lay on the beach, went to Jerusalem, and checked out some fun stuff around Tel Aviv.
The cousins at a tapas bar in downtown Tel Aviv
Quiet Tel Aviv beach
View over Jerusalem's Old City
The new Design Museum in Holon
Ottoman ruins in Tel Afek
Orchid garden at Utopia Botanical Park
Carnivorous plant at Utopia
Now that you have had some measure of an update on my month abroad, at least via photos, I feel I can begin to tell you about life in the present. We are back in Cork, and Jon is working while I am doing volunteer work for the Cork Simon community. We are busy and the weather is a bit more summery, so generally things are good here. Still, I must admit that I am happy to know that after this summer it will be time to go home to Toronto. It's a sort of a countdown in my mind now. But until then, I hope to suck up every moment of our European adventure!
Jon & I made the final lap in our wedding extravaganza. This one, organized by my mother and held in Tel Aviv on April 30th 2010, was a luncheon affair. Despite the fact that it rained a bit, a rather shocking weather event for Tel Aviv at the end of April, the party was wonderful and we all enjoyed ourselves. The photographer, Nicole de Castro, took some fantastic pictures:
After breaking the glass.
After the wedding grand finale, we took some time to hang out and enjoy Israel. We spent time with family, lay on the beach, went to Jerusalem, and checked out some fun stuff around Tel Aviv.
The cousins at a tapas bar in downtown Tel Aviv
Quiet Tel Aviv beach
View over Jerusalem's Old City
The new Design Museum in Holon
Ottoman ruins in Tel Afek
Orchid garden at Utopia Botanical Park
Carnivorous plant at Utopia
Now that you have had some measure of an update on my month abroad, at least via photos, I feel I can begin to tell you about life in the present. We are back in Cork, and Jon is working while I am doing volunteer work for the Cork Simon community. We are busy and the weather is a bit more summery, so generally things are good here. Still, I must admit that I am happy to know that after this summer it will be time to go home to Toronto. It's a sort of a countdown in my mind now. But until then, I hope to suck up every moment of our European adventure!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Karma
Recently the sun has made an appearance in Cork, and with it came a flood of happy pedestrians in skirts and shorts, eating ice cream and popsicles. Those first few days of warm weather are always like a drug, it seems.
Even before the really warm days arrived, we took advantage of the slight upward swing in temperature and went on a little weekend escapade. Jon's ex-coworker invited us to a party at his father's pub in Shanagolden, a small village in County Limerick. It was to be a proper Irish party, with a pig roast, some local musicians, and all the proceeds going to charity. How could we say no??
We rented a car and set off towards Connemara. See this beautiful map I made for you? Ah, how skilled I am, yes, yes.... Now what was I saying? Oh yes, Point A on the map (that may or may not have taken me over 30 minutes to create and paste in here, omigod) ahem, Point A is our departure point, the fair city of Cork. And originally we planned to spend our first night in Galway. It's supposed to be a fun place.
View Larger Map
You may notice, however, that the line crosses Galway and keeps going. Yes, a very astute observation. We sort of got on a whim... a whim to get into nature as opposed to staying in the city. So we cancelled our B&B reservation in Galway and made a last-minute reservation just outside a place called Clifden (Point B). We used our handy-dandy Lonely Planet guide, so we figured the place would be decent. We also knew that Clifden was in an area called Connemara that has a reputation for being very beautiful.
When we arrived at Mallmore B&B, here is what we found:
Uh, is this really our humble B&B...?
The sink in our room
Our room's wallpaper
More of our room
The hallway
AND the breakfast was good. So let's see, amazingly beautiful B&B bursting at the seams with character, plus good food... Yes, I recommend this place! Yes, yes, yes, I give it 5 stars, or 6, or whatever the maximum is of starrability. It's all starry, trust me.
So on to the rest of our trip. Here are some more of my favourite images:
Kylemore Abbey (Point C on the map)
And, of course, the grand finale - the party in Shanagolden:
Unfortunately the nice weather forgot to stay nice until we got home, so it started to rain while we were driving home on Monday morning. While the rain was coming down and things were turning muddy, Jon suddenly pulled over to the side of the road and informed me that we had a flat tire. I'd been napping (my favourite post-party on-the-road past-time) so I was oblivious, but apparently it was fairly severe. We very unhappily hauled ourselves out of the car and into the mud & rain, only to discover that we are both pathetically inept tire-changers. Soon enough we were reading the manual out loud to each other as the pages became soaked and destroyed. I finally tried to flag down some help. I swear, nothing will make you feel more rejected than when NOBODY STOPS TO HELP YOU and you are jumping around and waving your arms like a moron at the side of the road. Thankfully, a man (my hero!) eventually stopped and helped us with the entire process. He was so nice, I just hope all that karma stuff is true. He really deserves a big bunch of goodness for stopping to help us. Thank you, anonymous guy!!
Even before the really warm days arrived, we took advantage of the slight upward swing in temperature and went on a little weekend escapade. Jon's ex-coworker invited us to a party at his father's pub in Shanagolden, a small village in County Limerick. It was to be a proper Irish party, with a pig roast, some local musicians, and all the proceeds going to charity. How could we say no??
We rented a car and set off towards Connemara. See this beautiful map I made for you? Ah, how skilled I am, yes, yes.... Now what was I saying? Oh yes, Point A on the map (that may or may not have taken me over 30 minutes to create and paste in here, omigod) ahem, Point A is our departure point, the fair city of Cork. And originally we planned to spend our first night in Galway. It's supposed to be a fun place.
View Larger Map
You may notice, however, that the line crosses Galway and keeps going. Yes, a very astute observation. We sort of got on a whim... a whim to get into nature as opposed to staying in the city. So we cancelled our B&B reservation in Galway and made a last-minute reservation just outside a place called Clifden (Point B). We used our handy-dandy Lonely Planet guide, so we figured the place would be decent. We also knew that Clifden was in an area called Connemara that has a reputation for being very beautiful.
When we arrived at Mallmore B&B, here is what we found:
Uh, is this really our humble B&B...?
The sink in our room
Our room's wallpaper
More of our room
The hallway
AND the breakfast was good. So let's see, amazingly beautiful B&B bursting at the seams with character, plus good food... Yes, I recommend this place! Yes, yes, yes, I give it 5 stars, or 6, or whatever the maximum is of starrability. It's all starry, trust me.
So on to the rest of our trip. Here are some more of my favourite images:
Kylemore Abbey (Point C on the map)
And, of course, the grand finale - the party in Shanagolden:
Unfortunately the nice weather forgot to stay nice until we got home, so it started to rain while we were driving home on Monday morning. While the rain was coming down and things were turning muddy, Jon suddenly pulled over to the side of the road and informed me that we had a flat tire. I'd been napping (my favourite post-party on-the-road past-time) so I was oblivious, but apparently it was fairly severe. We very unhappily hauled ourselves out of the car and into the mud & rain, only to discover that we are both pathetically inept tire-changers. Soon enough we were reading the manual out loud to each other as the pages became soaked and destroyed. I finally tried to flag down some help. I swear, nothing will make you feel more rejected than when NOBODY STOPS TO HELP YOU and you are jumping around and waving your arms like a moron at the side of the road. Thankfully, a man (my hero!) eventually stopped and helped us with the entire process. He was so nice, I just hope all that karma stuff is true. He really deserves a big bunch of goodness for stopping to help us. Thank you, anonymous guy!!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Hot Monkeys.
While we were in Canada my mother bought me some pot holders (same idea as oven mitts) from a store called Kitchen Stuff Plus. I tend to be very sensitive to heat and we only had one oven glove, so it was a thoughtful gift. Check them out:
Yes, the top one is a hippo and a the other one is a monkey!
And yes, they come in many other animals & colours.
In other news, we finally broke down and bought a space heater for our apartment. When we returned to Ireland from our trip to Canada we arrived in the middle of a massive cold spell the likes of which Ireland had not seen in years. Our heater simply could not manage under the all that pressure, so I was left shivering most of the time. When we decided to buy an extra heater all the stores were sold out of the good ones, so I suffered a bit longer while Jon went away for a few weeks for work. So, long story short...it has taken ages, but we finally got a small efficient space heater. We were a bit taken aback by how much it glows:
A bit scary, no?
Yes, the top one is a hippo and a the other one is a monkey!
And yes, they come in many other animals & colours.
In other news, we finally broke down and bought a space heater for our apartment. When we returned to Ireland from our trip to Canada we arrived in the middle of a massive cold spell the likes of which Ireland had not seen in years. Our heater simply could not manage under the all that pressure, so I was left shivering most of the time. When we decided to buy an extra heater all the stores were sold out of the good ones, so I suffered a bit longer while Jon went away for a few weeks for work. So, long story short...it has taken ages, but we finally got a small efficient space heater. We were a bit taken aback by how much it glows:
A bit scary, no?
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
November's News
November was eventful for us here, with our first year in Cork quickly nearing its end and our married life just beginning. It feels like the universe is reminding me that the cycle of life just keeps on spinning, always changing and moving forward.
We spent the first weekend of November on a mini-vacation in Amsterdam with our close friends L & C. It was definitely too short, but it was also really cool to just skip over to Amsterdam for a weekend! Woah, Europe, I love you!
A few days after we got back from Amsterdam, we went on a 5-day trip to Malaga in southern Spain. We didn't know much about Malaga when we booked the flight a few months ago. We were just looking for a cheap vacation to a place that would be warmish in November, at least compared to Ireland. So, we chose southern Spain and then I did some research. First I decided that we should stay in Malaga as opposed to going to the many other (great) places in southern Spain because we were looking for a more restful vacation. Then I found out about a nice-looking hostal (a small guest-house) called The El Riad Andaluz in the heart of Malaga's historic city center. This place turned out to be a godsend. The family who owns it are amazing - really warm, outgoing, and helpful. The husband, Flo, spent ages when we checked in telling us about his favorite spots in the city for food, music, drinks, and other things. Every time we went to one of those places they turned out to be truly wonderful. The restaurants were delicious, the flamenco show was breathtaking, and he was absolutely right that Saturday afternoon should be spent on the beach eating paella or freshly grilled sardines. He also helped us to arrange a day-trip to the Alhambra, and got us out of a bind when we realized during our day-trip that we had forgotten our credit card at a restaurant the night before (ack!). Our entire vacation in Spain was....for lack of a less cheesy word... magical, and it was in large part due to our great hotel owners. I'm so glad we found that place!
These days I dream of returning to Malaga. In my mind, it represents sunny days, delicious tapas, peaceful beaches, dramatic flamenco, streets full of people, wild Picasso paintings, and gorgeous fashions.
After all our travels, we stayed in Cork for the rest of November. However, our adventures continued nonetheless! On Nov 13 we had lots of fun at The Good Wine Show at The Clarion Hotel, only to find it was absolutely pouring rain (lashing, as they would say here) when we left to go home. The rain didn't stop all night, and eventually it actually flooded a large portion of Ireland.
Floods are not completely unusual here since it rains so much and since many rivers cut through the towns, but the flooding in the last few weeks has been some of the worst southwest Ireland has had in decades. Luckily we were not affected much by it, but some of friends had no water at their homes and many of the businesses that we frequent in the city centre were badly flooded. In fact, the flooding was only a block away from our building - crazy! Also, one of the walls of the river simply collapsed (rather than overflowing) and it was just outside Jon's work. Here are some pictures we took in the morning when everyone was out on the streets looking at the water in shock:
Our friends Alex (from Quebec) and Fraser (from Scotland) got married on November 27th. It was the first wedding we've attended since our own in late September, and since it was a civil ceremony it was actually in the same place that we had ours. The woman who married us remembered us and we had a nice chat with her. Cork is just so friendly.
This week our good friends Lyne & Charles are leaving to go back home to Canada. They were in Ireland for a year and now they are ending their adventures abroad. It was very sad to say goodbye to them, and will be strange here without them. We had such nice Sunday wine & cheese days with them, and they were like our extended family here in our home away from home. It feels like the end of an era.
We are going home for a visit too, luckily - Yay! - on December 16th. I can't wait to see everyone. In fact, I'm secretly hoping that all the airplanes break down and we get stuck there. Just kidding. Well, kinda.
L
We spent the first weekend of November on a mini-vacation in Amsterdam with our close friends L & C. It was definitely too short, but it was also really cool to just skip over to Amsterdam for a weekend! Woah, Europe, I love you!
A few days after we got back from Amsterdam, we went on a 5-day trip to Malaga in southern Spain. We didn't know much about Malaga when we booked the flight a few months ago. We were just looking for a cheap vacation to a place that would be warmish in November, at least compared to Ireland. So, we chose southern Spain and then I did some research. First I decided that we should stay in Malaga as opposed to going to the many other (great) places in southern Spain because we were looking for a more restful vacation. Then I found out about a nice-looking hostal (a small guest-house) called The El Riad Andaluz in the heart of Malaga's historic city center. This place turned out to be a godsend. The family who owns it are amazing - really warm, outgoing, and helpful. The husband, Flo, spent ages when we checked in telling us about his favorite spots in the city for food, music, drinks, and other things. Every time we went to one of those places they turned out to be truly wonderful. The restaurants were delicious, the flamenco show was breathtaking, and he was absolutely right that Saturday afternoon should be spent on the beach eating paella or freshly grilled sardines. He also helped us to arrange a day-trip to the Alhambra, and got us out of a bind when we realized during our day-trip that we had forgotten our credit card at a restaurant the night before (ack!). Our entire vacation in Spain was....for lack of a less cheesy word... magical, and it was in large part due to our great hotel owners. I'm so glad we found that place!
These days I dream of returning to Malaga. In my mind, it represents sunny days, delicious tapas, peaceful beaches, dramatic flamenco, streets full of people, wild Picasso paintings, and gorgeous fashions.
After all our travels, we stayed in Cork for the rest of November. However, our adventures continued nonetheless! On Nov 13 we had lots of fun at The Good Wine Show at The Clarion Hotel, only to find it was absolutely pouring rain (lashing, as they would say here) when we left to go home. The rain didn't stop all night, and eventually it actually flooded a large portion of Ireland.
Floods are not completely unusual here since it rains so much and since many rivers cut through the towns, but the flooding in the last few weeks has been some of the worst southwest Ireland has had in decades. Luckily we were not affected much by it, but some of friends had no water at their homes and many of the businesses that we frequent in the city centre were badly flooded. In fact, the flooding was only a block away from our building - crazy! Also, one of the walls of the river simply collapsed (rather than overflowing) and it was just outside Jon's work. Here are some pictures we took in the morning when everyone was out on the streets looking at the water in shock:
Our friends Alex (from Quebec) and Fraser (from Scotland) got married on November 27th. It was the first wedding we've attended since our own in late September, and since it was a civil ceremony it was actually in the same place that we had ours. The woman who married us remembered us and we had a nice chat with her. Cork is just so friendly.
This week our good friends Lyne & Charles are leaving to go back home to Canada. They were in Ireland for a year and now they are ending their adventures abroad. It was very sad to say goodbye to them, and will be strange here without them. We had such nice Sunday wine & cheese days with them, and they were like our extended family here in our home away from home. It feels like the end of an era.
We are going home for a visit too, luckily - Yay! - on December 16th. I can't wait to see everyone. In fact, I'm secretly hoping that all the airplanes break down and we get stuck there. Just kidding. Well, kinda.
L
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